🔵 The Indie Worker Pass: A Proposal
I have an idea... and I'm curious if you feel it might work.
Hi everyone,
Last year, I decided to review the perks we offered our staff here at Motive Unknown. Retention of staff is important, so it makes sense to look into these things every now and then.
As part of that review, it occurred to me that it would be great if we could offer our staff discounts at indie businesses. As workers in the non-corporate space, all of whom are massive music fans, it struck me that it would be great to find a way to offer staff discounts at indie record stores.
This, however, led me down a path of thought and it has wound up here, where I have a proposal I would like to make to the indie music businesses out there.
I call it, for now, the Indie Worker Pass. Clearly that needs work, but bear with me!
What if indie labels and service businesses were to pay a monthly membership fee to a central system that in turn provided meaningful discounts to their staff across other indie businesses?
Currently, I think it is common that staff at a label can get the odd freebie, or ongoing discounts on vinyl purchases from that label's releases. But what if we centralised this, and those working in indie businesses were able to purchase discounted music from other labels, or participating indie record stores?
One might even extend this logic further. Could businesses taking part be able to offer subscriptions to music publications like The Quietus, for example?
Financially, the logic is that the amounts paid in by the participating businesses would underwrite the discounts to a greater or lesser extent. From preliminary calculations though, it feels achievable, in the sense that the amount paid in would not, on a per-person basis, amount to a significant cost to the participating businesses at all.
At a point where the indie sector is increasingly becoming a weird battleground, one in which the very term is being co-opted by corporate entities like Universal, I feel there's a case for those who are not corporate-owned entities to unite and have some kind of scheme to reward those working in this sector.
For staff this would amount to a terrific win, providing discounted music or access to things at discounted rates. For employers it would be a huge win too - a perk system that ensures the money spent is going back into verified independent businesses.
We've looked into it here at Motive Unknown, and feel there are ways to centrally manage this all. It would be complex, but it isn’t insurmountable. The devil is in the details here, obviously, but we are prepared to put the time in and work with stakeholders to figure this all out.
This would have to be via a proper, separate entity, and would require at least one person (depending on the uptake) to administrate it. Broadly though, it does not need to be a profitable venture: it is there to provide perks for indie workers, which in turn encourages spending back into indie businesses. Ergo, it can be a non-profit.
Of course, one word keeps repeating here that is problematic: "indie". What does that even mean in 2025?
I suspect a long debate could be had on that one, but perhaps a starting point I'd offer might simply be "any business with less than (and I'm spitballing here) 25% ownership by corporate entities". I appreciate even that is complex. Would a company like Concord count as indie, when it is owned by a massive US pension fund? I am happy to have that debate!
Broadly though, I do feel there is something in this. Independent businesses often don't match the larger corporate salaries of blue chip companies. Staff in music in general aren't among the highest earners. Ergo, having a system that benefits them, whilst encouraging spending back into that indie sector so that, for example, someone is buying records from Banquet or Drift rather than Amazon, strikes me as a win-win for all involved.
To that end, I am laying all of this out to gauge interest. This requires a fair bit of adoption to work. Therefore if this looks interesting to you, please drop me a line back and I will build a register of interest. Personally I'd love to see the bigger players in this space taking part too. You know how you are, and I know you read this humble publication!
Right now, the indie sector is under increasing threat. This proposal is not a solution to that, but I think anything that celebrates what it is to be among the plucky upstarts, the ones who take the real risks with their own money, the mavericks and weirdos who made this scene so incredible, is surely worth a shot.
Motive Unknown cannot make this happen on its own - nor do we want to. But we could collectively come together to create something amazing here. We aren’t looking for profit on this; we want to create something that merely celebrates and rewards those working in the independent business sector.
So - what do you think? Does anyone fancy joining in?
If so, hit reply and let's chat.
Furthermore, if we can generate enough interest here, we will keep everyone updated.
I really feel there's something in this. Let me know if you feel the same way.
Have a great evening,
D.
🎶 Listening to “Disappointment Machine” by Arliston. In an age of links and intangible, digital media, I have to say that it proved quite a novelty to receive a full LP as a promo item for this album. It made me stop and take notice, and when I finally got a moment to put this LP on, it was Sunday morning and I was bleary-eyed and starting the day with a coffee. My timing could not have been better, as the album is a delicate selection of tracks not a million miles from the likes of alt-J. Perfect Sunday listening. The album is out on the 7th Feb, but the link above takes you to the title song, and that’s as good a taster as any. Any hey, if you’re wanting me to listen to things, CD and vinyl most definitely get my attention, heheh. Well player, Arliston and the Charm Factory team!
📺 Watching “This $30 Camera Is Truly Special” on YouTube. A kids camera with a thermal printer sounds mildly odd featuring here, but I agree with the author that this makes for a quirky, fun way to share photos in a more physical medium, and all at a price that costs pennies per pic. Fun! I’m tempted.
📖 Reading “Spin machines: the curious history of video games on vinyl”. Whilst chatting to my buddy Will Freeman he linked me to this article he wrote three years ago, documenting a time when artists (briefly!) encoded videos and games as audio files into the b-sides of their 12” singles. If you’re as old as me, you remember those days when loading a game on a ZX Spectrum meant playing an audio file into the machine. Geeky as I was, I never knew about this though. Quite brilliant.
Notes in dispatches:
Sign the petition to save the Prince Charles Cinema! Sadly one of the finest institutions in London is under threat of redevelopment, and I am firmly of the view that losing this place would be a cultural crime. Please help and take a mo to add your names to the objectors!
Big shout-out to the Your Morning Coffee podcast for the kind words about my “Understanding The Music Fan in 2025” presentation! You can listen back here.
BTW if you missed the presentation in the last edition, you can watch it on YouTube here.
I’m now posting over on Bluesky too, so if you want hot takes on stories as they break etc, follow me over there. 🦋